Posted by Sheryl Kirby in market basket on June 20, 2007 at 7:04 am

I know, I know, I'm all about the strawberry photographs, three weeks in a row. They're just too fascinating. Plus I got a new camera and I'm photographing pretty much everything, pushing the limits of its macro capacity, which continues to amaze me. In any case, yes, strawberries. I'll switch to cherries or blueberries soon, I promise.

But I've got more great shots of produce this week as we revisit the Liberty Village Farmer's Market and find a whole lot more available than the asparagus of our last trip a few weeks ago. There is organic (hothouse) tomatoes and lettuce at Van Hart Greenhouses, strawberries from Coopers Farm, and bison meat from the Peterborough Buffalo Farms (sadly a different breed of buffalo from the water buffalo they're using in BC to make mozzarella - wouldn't local bocconcini be a treat?), and baby zucchini and squash as well as basil from Bosco Farm. Also apples, radishes, sweet potatoes, honey, maple syrup, flowering plants and probably a pile of stuff I'm forgetting.

The vendors are getting too numerous to list, so I'm just going to go through my swag. Lettuce and tomatoes from VanHart Greenhouses, baby zucchini from Bosco Farm, strawberries from Coopers Farm and garlic scapes from Big Ass Garlic.

All the chefs are hot for garlic scapes now; wild leeks are soooo last month, and the folks from Big Ass Garlic did not disappoint. The garlic scape is the green top of the garlic plant and is completely edible. They're sort of a cross between garlic and green onions in flavour - garlicky but mild. I told my Dad about buying garlic scapes when i called to wish him a Happy Father's Day and he laughed about how we city-slickers would happily pay a buck-twenty-five for something he throws in the compost bin. Mind you, my Dad pitches the beet greens from his garden because he'd rather eat chard, so what does he know?

If you'd like to see your Farmer's Market swag in this column, drop me an email or reply in the comments.